While the ‘passing’ of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century has fallen out of favor, the passing of today takes the form of the assertion of ‘pure’ individualism, stripped of race and gender. But this notion of the individual is an ideological fiction, reflective of the image of male whiteness, and still situated in the assimilationist position.”
– john a. powell, Racing for Justice: Transforming Our Conceptions of Self and Other to Build an Inclusive Society (Indiana Univ. Press, 2015)

Notes for #WhitenessHistoryMonth 4.8
Extending work of @CrazyPastor. Honoring vision of @PortlandCC
@DCSpatz

“Historically, many White immigrants have been accused of marginalizing other White immigrants…demystifying the cultural complexity of people classified as White, and the hierarchy of groups created by racism, multicultural education will help White students understand their own history, as well as the fact that the current social discourses against diverse racial/ethnic groups are very similar to the discriminatory discourses and practices that their ancestors experienced in the past.”
– From National Association for Multicultural Education

“For the vast majority of white Americans, the past decade*—the first phase—had been a struggle to treat the Negro with a degree of decency, not equality. White America was ready to demand that the Negro should be spared the lash of brutality and coarse degradation, but it had never been truly committed to helping him out of poverty, exploitation or all forms of discrimination. The outraged white citizen had been sincere when he snatched the whips from the Southern sheriffs…[But] White Americans left the Negro on the ground and in devastating numbers walked off with the aggressor. It appeared that the white segregationist and the ordinary white citizen had more in common with one another than either had with the Negro.”

*i.e. 1950s-early60s
– MLK, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community (NY: Harper and Row, 1967)

“It is time to re-order our national priorities. All those who now speak of good will…now have the responsibility to stand up and act for the social changes that are necessary to conquer racism in America,” wrote SCLC president in a 3/4/68 press release, concluding:
“If we as a society fail, I fear that we will learn very shortly that racism is a sickness unto death.”

In the same press release – “DR. KING CALLS FOR ACTION AGAINST POVERTY AND RACISM CITED IN RIOT STUDY; POOR PEOPLE’S CAMPAIGN STARTS APRIL 22 IN WASHINGTON” – MLK called racism in the U.S. a “congenital deformity.”

Visit the King Archives for the full press release. See Where Do We Go From Here? for more. Both linked from “A Song Every Day”

‘If he be a white man, and assigned to a colored coach, he may have his action for damages against the company for being deprived of his so-called property. Upon the other hand, if he be a colored man and be so assigned, he has been deprived of no property, since he is not lawfully entitled to the reputation of being a white man.’
– Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896)

“The benefits of whiteness, described in this way, throw the disabilities attached to blackness during the ‘separate but equal’ era into sharp relief. For many being white automatically ensured higher economic returns in the short term as well as greater economic, political, and social security in the long run. Being white meant gaining access to a set of public and private privileges that materially and permanently guaranteed basic needs and survival. Being white increased the possibility of controlling critical aspects of one’s life rather than of being the object of another’s domination.”